Xbox 360 Arcade Edition Officially Official

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Leaks broke the news long ago, but now they're proven correct.

By Gerry Block

If Microsoft was trying to keep the Xbox 360 Arcade Edition a secret, they failed miserably. As we've been reporting for weeks, Microsoft has been preparing for the launch of a new, HDD-lacking Xbox 360 unit designed to replace the Core edition at the lowest branch of the Xbox 360 product tree. Today, weeks after the news (in its entirety) hit the street, Microsoft has confirmed the release of the new Xbox 360 version.

As we reported earlier, the Xbox 360 Arcade edition will retail for $279. The package will not include an HDD, but will be packed with a 256-MB memory card for storing saves and XBL Arcade games. A wireless controller, composite cables, and five XBL Arcade games (Pac-Man CE, Uno, Luxor 2, Boom Boom Rocket, and Feeding Frenzy) will round out the package.

The only real news Microsoft provided in the official release was the fact that the Arcade Edition consoles will include HDMI like the newer versions of the Premium, Elite, and Halo 3 consoles. All in all it's not a bad deal, especially for the holidays in which the Wii, if Nintendo is to be trusted, may sell out again. $279 will look pretty strong against the Wii's $250.